the first two years of obama's presidency, it was virtually impossible for elected office holders in the republican party to consider joining the bipartisan coalition that would've been necessary to pass the legislation. question, whyg did the people who were supporting it think it would work? i'm going to leave that question talk about.or us to i do believe many of the business people and environment was who supported cap and trade were so focused on working out the details of a bargain inside of washington, d.c. trying to figure out how many allowances to give to which andons and how to reach out rope in more business leaders to support the legislation. the just operate on assumption that if they could get business support, that would deliver republican votes to congress. meanwhile, the republican party was changing. by 2009, that change had a label. tea party movement. which i did face to face interviews with the tea party people in several parts of the country and found for them, the threat of environmental protection agency regulating and cap and trade were right up there with o